Finances, currency and taxation in the 14th and 15th centuries
complex and lasted until 1405, can be found in Gaspar Feliu. “El Maestro Racional de la Corona de Aragón y la revisión de cuentas de la Taula de Canvi de Pere des Caus y Andreu d’Olivella”. In: IX Congreso AECA: La Unión Europea, un reto para las empresas y los profesionales españoles. Salamanca, Universidad de Salamanca, 1997; Gaspar Feliu. “Los libros contables…”, op. cit.; Gaspar Feliu. “Mercaders-banquers…”, op. cit., pp. 206-210. [66] Garí and not García, as it erroneously appears in Ramon Gubern. “La crisis financiera…”, op. cit., and as it has appeared in a great deal of the ensuing historiography. [67] Rafael Conde y Delgado de Molina. “Problemas y puntos…”, op. cit., p. 134. [68] Pierre Vilar. Catalunya dins l’Espanya…, op. cit., pp. 183-184; Jaume Vicens i Vives. Els Trastàmares (segle xv). Teide, Barcelona 1956, “Biografies Catalanes” collection, p. 18. [69] Gaspar Feliu. “La crisi de la baixa edat mitjana”. In: Àngel Casals (coord.). Revisió historiogràfica de Jaume Vicens Vives. Galerada, Barcelona 2010, “Llibres de Prada. Universitat Catalana d’Estiu” collection, 2, pp. 51-52. [70] Manuel Riu. “La banca…”, op. cit., p. 210. [71] Antoni Riera and Gaspar Feliu. “Activitats…”, op. cit., p. 209; Mario del Treppo. Els mercaders catalans…, op. cit., pp. 34-39; Gaspar Feliu. “La crisis catalana de la Baja Edad Media: estado de la cuestión”. Hispania. Revista Española de Historia, LXIV/2, 217 (2004), pp. 464-465; Antoni Riera Melis. “La Diputació del General…”, op. cit., p. 167. The main episodes and reasons for the downturn in the economy were the trade difficulties in the Near East after the domination of the Mameluke sultanate in Egypt in 1428 and the ban on selling spices in the Toulouse market in 1438; secondarily, albeit with a heavy social impact, was the rising competition of cloth from Flanders and northern France after the 1420s, which ruined local cloth production; Antoni Riera Melis. “La Diputació del General…”, op. cit., p. 207. [72] In 1395, the City banned moneychangers from buying and selling florins, and in 1397 it placed bankers under the jurisdiction of the Consolat de Mar (trade board) and required them to work out of Llotja (the Hall), which had been opened just a short time earlier, where they could be more closely monitored: Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., pp. 244-245; Manuel Riu. “La banca…”, op. cit., p. 211. [73] Henceforth I will refer to it as the Taula or Taula de Canvi, in upper-case letters. The Taula was created very quickly: the earliest mention comes from a proposal submitted to the Consell de Cent on the 25th of April 1400: Francesc Carreras Candi. Ciutat…, op. cit., p. 686; Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., pp. 269270. Regarding other aspects of the Taula, such as its internal organisation, its accounting, the origin of its foreign deposits, its handling of foreign currency, etc., see Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., pp. 269-277; Manuel Riu. “La banca…”, op. cit.; Anna Maria Adroer and Gaspar Feliu. Història de la Taula de
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Canvi de Barcelona. Seu fundacional de la Caixa de Barcelona. Caixa de Barcelona, Barcelona 1989; Gaspar Feliu, “Moneda y banca en Cataluña en el siglo xv”. In: Antonio M. Bernal (ed.). Moneda y crédito en la monarquía hispànica. Marcial Pons, Madrid 2000; Josep Maria Passola, Els orígens de la Banca Pública. Les Taules de Canvi Municipals. Ausa, Sabadell 1999; Pere Ortí Gost. “Les finances municipals…”, op. cit., pp. 272-281. Gaspar Feliu. Els primers llibres conservats…, op. cit. [74] The Taula seemed to have absorbed a previous bank to weigh florins. [75] Judicial deposits, trusteeships, dipòsits a solta (deposits retained until a given condition was met), etc. [76] This is why a large number of accounts were opened for a single transaction: the money deposited was immediately withdrawn, but there was proof of the payment. According to Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., p. 181, in 1433 a total of 1,494 people had had a relationship with the Taula, which led to the exaggerated claim that one out of every four families in Barcelona had an account there; at best, one out of every four families in Barcelona had had some dealings with the Taula. [77] Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., p. 169, claims that the Taula kept numerous accounts in the red, which broke the theoretical municipal monopoly; Pere Ortí Gost. “Les finances municipals…”, op. cit., p. 281, showed that the credits were to municipal officials, beginning with the treasurer. Nonetheless, the Taula administrators seemed to overlook this: in the cash count dated the 23rd of January 1405, when the 1404 administrators gave way to their successors, 419 pounds, 2 sous and 4 diners was missing, which was not paid by one of the previous administrators, Pere de Casasaja, until the 20th of August; Gaspar Feliu. Els primers llibres conservats…, op. cit. [78] In 1412, the municipal treasurer owed the Taula de Canvi a sum much higher than the municipal revenues: Francesc Carreras Candi. Ciutat…, op. cit., pp. 688690; Pere Ortí Gost. “Les finances municipals…”, op. cit., p. 274. [79] Francesc and Manuel de Gualbes fell in November 1404, and Jaume and Joan Massana the following spring; Gaspar Feliu. Els primers llibres conservats…, op. cit. Overdraughts with other banks were inevitable: without mutual credit, there was no chance of maintaining inter-bank relations. [80] Jaume Vicens i Vives. Els Trastàmares…, op. cit., p. 18; Pierre Vilar. Catalunya dins l’Espanya…, op. cit., p. 182; Anna Maria Adroer and Gaspar Feliu. Història de la Taula…, op. cit., p. 31; Gaspar Feliu, “Moneda y banca…”, op. cit., pp. 133-134; Antoni Riera and Gaspar Feliu. “Activitats…”, op. cit., p. 246. [81] The first ordinances from 1401 do not survive, although they must have largely been incorporated into the 1412 ordinances. Francesc Carreras Candi. Ciutat…, op. cit., p. 689; Abbot Payson Usher. The Early History…, op. cit., pp. 264-265.
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